CHAPTER VI
2.—Niyama.
THE second part of Yoga is niyama or religious observances. It consists of five parts viz., (1) saucha (purification); (2) santosha (contentment); (3) tapa (austerity); (4) swadhyaya (inaudible and incessant repetition of the word); and (5) Iswara pranidhana (persevering devotion to the Lord). These form the second step of the ladder of Yoga. When one has got complete mastery in the practice of the five mahavratas, then he should turn his attention towards gaining perfection in these five religious observances. They all relate to practices calculated to bring about a calm and equilibrized state of mind, and thereby prepare it for concentration.
We shall now enumerate the fruits of this five-fold observance. The result of purification, which means mental as well as bodily purification (a) is two-fold:—“It produces a loathing for one’s own members and non-intercourse with others, and (b) produces the purity in the quality of goodness, complacency, intentness, subjugation of the senses, and fitness for beholding the soul.” A clean body can only contain a pure soul, and if the bodily tabernacle be kept unclean and impure, the indwelling soul receives the taint. We cannot believe that a person who swelters in impurities of the flesh can possess a pure soul. A filthy body must have a filthy tenant. It is from this consideration that we condemn those Hathi Yogis, who live a filthy physical life, whose bodies smell of odours inexpressible, and many of whom glory in the command over their nerves as expressed in swallowing filth and ordure of every kind. Such practices are simply disgusting and not countenanced by true Yoga. Purification of the body produces mental purification, which in itself is not a small gain. But besides that, it produces, as said above, a loathing for one’s own members and that of others too. When we vividly and clearly see before our mental sight what a sack of foulness and filth our body is, what a veritable dung-hill of nuisance is contained within it, we cannot but feel disgusted with it, and begin to love our bodies less and our souls more. This purification also means our souls away from the love of women and beautiful faces. It at once reminds us that physical beauty is but a painted sepulchre containing within it abominations, and that our souls should not be ensnared in the meshes of outward charms, but piercing through the fleshy curtain, look into the soul within and fall in love with that; if it be beautiful. Beautiful souls let us love by all means, but not allow ourselves to be mislead by beautiful bodies. This is one result of saucha. It shows our own foulness as well as that of others; and inasmuch as it produces disgust of physical bodies, it indirectly helps the mind in the attainment of concentration. But it also has direct bearing on the subject.
Our bodies are made up of three qualities—goodness, passion, and darkness. Health is the result when the quality of goodness (satwa guna) is predominant, and disease when darkness predominates. By saucha the quality of goodness is made pure, it is freed from the two other qualities—Rajo and Tama, (passion and darkness); in other words,—and to use modern phraseology—saucha produces health. When there is health, there is cheerfulness and complacency. The unhealthy are generally moping and melancholy; but sound physical health engenders buoyancy and elasticity of spirit. When there is cheerfulness, it brings intentness, (ekagrata). It is the fixing of the mind to one train of ideas; but when the mind is not cheerful, it is impossible so to fix it. When there is ekagrata, and the mind is intent on one subject, then there is indria jaya (subjugation of the senses). For all of us have seen that when deeply engaged in one thought, we are not conscious of any external event, our senses are abstracted from the performance of their functions, and we are said to be in abstraction. Where there is subjugation of the senses and perfect abstraction, the mind sees the soul. For what must one be cognizant but of his own soul when one has made himself totally unconscious to the impressions conveyed by the senses? And seeing one’s soul is Yoga. Thus we see how saucha through an unbroken chain of effects leads to Yoga.
Next to purification comes santosha (contentment). “The fruit of santosha is superlative felicity.” Contentment is the fountain of true happiness. Our desires are infinite and insatiable, and lead but to sorrow. Happiness for which every one strives is not the result of enjoyment but of contentment. There is a Persian saying “Contentment makes one rich” nay, we say it makes one more than kings. A person is rich who has more than he desires, and as one who is contented has few desires, he is rich. Contentment is the true philosopher’s stone. It diminishes our wants and multiplies our happiness. But we hear some to object that contentment is the bane of progress; a contented people are always stationary; that multiplication of our wants is a sign of civilization, and it is only among less advanced nations that we see the so-called virtue of contentment: civilized nations are ever progressive, never content. To this we reply—What is after all the result of your vaunted civilization? Has it not made men heartless, greedy and selfish? Has it not sewn discontent broad and wide? Does it not give rise to pains, envy and heart burnings? Has it not turned all our energies to material improvements, external progress, and made us forget that we have a soul to save, immortality to achieve? Has materialistic philosophy made a single soul happy, or has it not cast a gloomy shroud of sadness and doubt over all our spiritual aspirations of futurity? No, this philosophy stands self-condemned, as it has failed to achieve its object, viz., the increase of the sum total of human happiness. Nor do we admit that because a nation practices contentment it becomes incapable of progress and enterprise. Contentment only purges away the dross of self from our actions, and makes all our deeds shine with a lustre divine. It inspires the nation with love of justice and fair-play; and since it takes away the petty, cold-calculating greediness, which is the characteristic of most of the civilized nations of the West, it makes us truly noble. Contentment is not a foe to progress, but it offers the necessary counterbalance to that spirit of insatiate hunger which progress tends to generate.
Now we return to the fruit of tapa. “The perfection of the bodily senses by the removal of impurity is the fruit of austerity.” It is a well-known law of nature that exercise strengthens our bodily organs; and that if an organ is not properly exercised it becomes imperfect. The system of tapa lays down minute rules for the perfection of the bodily senses. By a course of severe and rigorous discipline all our senses are sharpened and perfected. Tapa, during the latter days of Indian history, had degenerated into physical pennance and mortifications totally unfruitful of the beneficial results contemplated. For a description of the various kinds of tapa, the reader is referred to treatises like Manu Sanhita, Yajnyavalkya, &c. Any book of gymnastic will give more about the rules of tapa than we can do within the short space at our command. But in passing, we may be allowed to remark that our tapa should not be confined to any one bodily organ, but to all. Thus we should try to improve the keenness of our sight by looking steadily toward the stars, to make ourselves proof against heat and cold by sitting in iced water during winter and near the fire during summer, and so on. In fact any practice tending towards the perfection of bodily senses is tapa.
Fourthly, as to the fruits of incessant repetition of the words:—“Through swadhyaya there is meeting with one’s favorite deity.” This requires no explanation. If we constantly and earnestly call upon a person, and if such a person does exist, it is but rational to suppose that he will answer our call. Deities or Devas are higher than pitras or spirits. Modern theology has named them angels, seraphs, cherubs, &c., while modern theosophy is pleased to call them elementals, spirits and elementaries. Some of these Devas are beneficent and others malignant; however both classes possess powerful attributes. In India, we have a class of religionists who are known as devatasiddhas, i.e., those who have met with their special deity. Some worship Durga, others Kali; some Siva and so on. These persons, from intently repeating the name of a particular deity for a certain number of times (say two billion or so), at last see that deity and receive certain powers as a reward of their labour. Some can cure peculiar diseases, others can find lost treasure, &c. That there is a good deal of imposition among them and that all their vaunts and pretensions may not be true, is proved beyond doubt. But that there are genuine and real devata siddhas is equally certain. But it is not a very high order of perfection after all, that we should aim at it. Rather, we should leave the Devatas to themselves, for they are potent to do evil as well as good, and it is not always easy to invoke them. Instead of worshipping any of these secondary deities, we should try to invoke none but the only one without a second, and devote to Iswara pranidhana, the fruit of which is as follows—
“Perfection in meditation (samadhi siddhi) comes from persevering devotion to the Lord.” In fact, as we have said in the previous chapter, this path is the easiest, most simple, and pleasantest of all. “Love thy God with all thy heart, soul, and with all thy might”, is the formula which explains the adeptship of Lord Jesus and other saints. Jnana Yogis are very few, but the Bhakti Yoga, being simple in theory and easy of practice, has been always popular with the masses. The essence of this system of Yoga is faith—faith in one’s own God. But the path, though less difficult, is not after all smooth travelling. While Jnana Yoga is definite and certain of its results, the Bhakti Yoga is vague, indefinite and uncertain. Trance and ecstacy are the states which sometimes so fascinate the imagination of the Bhakta, that he thinks it the ultimatum of samadhi, and does not wish to progress further. Moreover there is more discordance of views among religionists than among philosophers. For, religion appeals more to the feelings than intuition, and consequently there is seldom found harmony among the saints of the world. No doubt both lead to the same goal, and it is a matter of choice, which of these one prefers.
